Re: Photo of a 1912 bicycle/phonograph shop
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:09 am
Not always. Some of the larger gas lights had the shade pointing down, like those designed for over billiard tables, so I'd assume gas lights in a large shop with high ceilings would also have the shades open at the bottom to help direct the light downward.Phonofreak wrote:The lights on the photo look to be electric lights. On an electric light, the glass shade faces down. On a gas light, the shade faces up. There is a combination fixture called a gasolier. You can tell because it is both electric and gas. Like I said before, the shade is up on a gas light, and down on an electric light. So on a gasolier, you will see both styles of shade on one fixture.
Harvey Kravitz
Look at this page from the March 1908 issue of The Illuminating Engineer. See??? Inverted GAS lights in a combo fixture. The ones with the bigger shade ring are gas. G-A-S 
You can read the text of the article as well.